BJP slams Farooq Abdullah over his J-K 'non-local voters' remark

BJP targeted former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah over his controversial 'local and non-local' voters remark and termed the statement as 'unfortunate'. Tarun Chugh, National General Secretary of Bharatiya Janata Party, said that no ISI or Afghan terrorist has been made a voter in the region.

"Farooq Abdullah's statement is unfortunate. He being such a senior leader refers to non-local and local voters. The Constitution of India gives the right to vote to all citizens of India," said Chugh.

The BJP leader also accused Abdullah of withholding the voting rights of people who had been staying in the valley for decades.


"Farooq Abdullah had withheld the voting rights of the people. Farooq Abdullah and Mehbooba ji are spreading the poison of local and non-locals. The citizens of India have now got their right to vote while under your leadership they were left for terrorists from Afghanistan and ISI and were given the title of refugees," he added.



Questioning the credibility of his 'non-local voters' remark, Chugh stressed that the President of the Jammu and Kashmir National Conference Farooq Abdullah would be given voting rights across various regions in the country as a citizen of India.

The Peoples Democratic Party also staged a protest against election authorities over the issue of "non-locals" being enlisted as electorate in Jammu and Kashmir, saying "imported voters" were not acceptable to parties.

Several PDP activists assembled at the party headquarters in Gandhi Nagar and took out a protest rally towards the office of Chief Electoral Officer Hirdesh Kumar who had recently announced anyone living ordinarily in J&K can get enlisted in the union territory as a voter under during the special summary revision of the electoral roll.

On August 17, Election Commission released the schedule of the Special Summary Revision in Jammu and Kashmir and announced that the people who were not voters in the Assembly after the abrogation of Article 370 from the region can now be named on the voter's list.

With inputs from ANI